[Excaliber]

Myself I would also carefully consider the FIRST gear ratio as well. Often with a five speed it is way to low. Resulting in serious wheel spin, while fun, it gets hold shifting really early or just using 2nd gear to take off.

My favorite "recipe" for gearing is:
The first four gears would be equivelant or close to the ratios you find in a top loader 4 speed. The icing on the cake would be a 5th gear at .8 Rear gear ratio can vary depending on what you like. 3.5 is a good call for my "recipe", in general. I might tend to go a bit higher IF the first gear ratio in my chosen trans is fairly low. I like to see about 40 mph in FIRST gear before shifting. That is just about optimum in my opinion.